Perhaps the alcohol held back the plague of lies.

@Lorajay That is a vicious lie from rewritten history. Robert E Lee a traitor who should've been executed, is portrayed as a gentleman and Grant is portrayed as a drunk. Truth be told, Grant was a hero and our first civil rights president. History books were rewritten by Daughters of Confederacy, who put up all the confederate monuments, lobbied to have military bases named for traitors. General Grant never touched a drop after 1863. Appeasement was the worst thing Lincoln ever did. It cost him his life. Lee and Davis and a whole lot of "generals" should have been shot in front of a firing squad instead of being honored. Our country would be much more unified today if post US Civil War had gone the route of post WWII Germany.